Brain death hormone therapy and Graft survival: A systematic review of the literature

Introduction

During brain death, several events occur, including hormonal. metabolic and systemic changes. This systematic review aims to find the role of hormone therapy in cadaver donors and its impact on graft function and/or survival following solid organ transplantation.

Method and materials

Randomized clinical trials were reviewed to investigate the effects of hormone therapy on graft survival amongst brain death cases. studies from Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) were identified and reviewed for this current work. Two reviewers independently rated the quality of the study. As a result, 18 studies met inclusion criteria and were included in this study.

Results

Over 2235 titles were retrieved from various search sources and 16 full papers were identified for possible inclusion. Trial sample sizes varied widely from 25 to 12,333 patients. Multiple therapy schemes were developed and applied for brain death donors. The first scheme simply involved applying Triiodothyronine, Dopamine, Immunosuppressive, Vasopressin and Desmopressin separately. The second scheme consisted of applying double hormone therapy using Methylprednisolone and Vasopressin simultaneously. Finally, triple hormone therapy was applied which included Methylprednisolone, Triiodothyronine and Arginine vasopressin.

Conclusions

Results from this systematic study indicated no significant effects on overall organ survival in recipients who received brain death hormone therapy. Thus, the potential effects of hormone therapy in brain death scenarios are still unknown and need further investigation.